Broken
by No Line on the Horizon
Summary: He held us all up in a way, he was our leader, and we thought he'd never leave. But when he left, so did all of us in a sort of way. Now he decides to return, and maybe it's just too late for a savior now.
1. Anniversary

A/N: I'm by no means guaranteeing that I'm coming back to write again or something of the sort.

But I'll still be writing, just expect very slow updates, maybe monthly or every 3 weeks, again something of the sort.

Oh at I'm experimenting with a shift from 3rd to 1st person. Let me know your thoughts on that.

Anyway hope you like this, let me know if I still can write well after like 6 months hiatus XD

Shattered Glass

…

Her lifeless pale eyes could tell you what had happened. You didn't have to know who it was, what had occurred, or even who she was. But all you knew was that she had been scarred, given an ever so painful stab to the heart by an event so tragic even you had to have the decency to say I'm sorry.

Today was far from the word "satisfactory" for 16 year old Amy Rose. Not just today though, yesterday too, as well as the entire week, and hell the whole month. In fact, she'd prefer to probably be at home locked inside her room with the energy saver light bulbs living up to their namesakes, by being off.

Her manager scolded her about 5 minutes ago for cursing at an elderly man who had continuously wanted her help but denied it, sending Amy into a rage she was just able to control. Barely.

Now here she was outside in the cold winter air, back up against a brick wall, its cracks revealing its multi-decade age to the ones around it. Her knuckles were bloody and some maybe broken and her throat felt like it had been rubbed relentlessly with sandpaper, thanks to her screams. The tiny crumbs of brick and mortar which matched the material on her hand could only explain what she had done to relieve some stress, and one might shake their head in disappointment and walk away.

Like she cared.

She knew nobody cared about her anymore, that she was just another brokenhearted girl who was trying to mend herself. Fix the gaping wounds created within her soul, a once blossom of love now nothing but a black hole.

But that once cheery bubbly personality of hers that made her loved by all was dust in the wind. Her heart that was once superior to anybody around and cared for all was a shadow of its former self. Now it was the equivalent of a dense metal cube, cold on the inside and out, and very hard to penetrate.

All her once called friends had just given up surrendered on their knees towards her newfound darker personality. They had all attempted to rediscover her inner self, and bring back out the cheerfulness they all loved. And each one of them failed miserably, the closest one who came to getting her even remotely close was Tails, but he too failed.

_Selfish, every single one of them,"_ she thought, her mind heavy as it spat haste toward her former friends_. "They only helped because they wanted the old me and couldn't accept the new me. All they wanted me for was to cook them food once in awhile, or cheer them up when I'm down, they never gave a shit about me, where was my help?_

She stood up and reapplied the hood on her jacket as the wind was picking up again. Last thing she needed was to get sick, especially with something like the flu. She was extremely tight on money and couldn't afford to pay health bills on top of the nearly overdue rent she had on her apartment. Even food was becoming in shorter supply, as she cut back on some snacks she loved to save a few bucks.

Now in knowing that she was probably fired anyway, Amy just began the long lonely journey back to her house. Oddly enough was that she actually bothered walking, on most occasions there was a bus that frequently came around to the stop that was conveniently placed outside of the market.

But why should she care, even if it was only 25 degrees out not factoring in that chilly wind, it's not like her mother was around to nag her. Or anybody for that matter.

… (Pov: Amy)

Ahhh, here we are, back to my sad excuse of an apartment. Well, I consider it like that, but anybody is open to their own opinions or whatnot.

I only refereed to it like that because of the mass clutter that's been occurring, as I'd only been here for about 4 months, maybe 5. Whatever, not going to waste time counting up days on a stupid calendar, it would take me like half an hour to find one anyway.

Upon walking to my kitchen for like the 4th cup of coffee today, I nearly broke my neck in two as I almost tripped over a stupid box that was burrowing itself on the side of my couch. I shot a nasty "I'll burn you stupid box" glare at it as a grabbed a spoon, mug, and can of instant coffee out of my cabinet. I took out one of my few useable pots out and ran it under the sink for some water, and proceeded to place it on the stove to boil as I spooned some coffee into my mug, its little logo of the supermarket staring me in the face. I wanted to scream and chuck it out my window noticing that, but I have enough problems already, so I just turned it in the opposite direction.

While I waited however, that box which was in the back of my mind caught my attention once more. What was inside? When did I even pack that box, or had I never opened it in the first place since I moved out of my old home?

Curiosity grasped the better of me as I made my way to that small box adjacent to the couch. Well, I can't call it small as it was rather good sized, like a shoebox of some sort. I already knew this had to be at least a year or more old, as its cardboard surface was overshadowed with a layer of dust that was icky to the touch.

I tried blowing off most of it, a stupid idea because it made a cloud of dust over the box causing me to sneeze. What surprised me was that there wasn't really anything on the box at all, no labels or logos at all. The only aspect noticeable to me was some worn away writing that read "Do Not Lose" as if this box was a matter of life or death.

My mind went blank as I tried to remember what the box was. For some reason a minuscule part of my mind was telling me not to open it, that there was something bad associated with whatever was inside. I had a feeling that something was up anyway, why would I have a box unopened for that long?

"Well here goes I guess…," I croaked to myself, half fearing and wanting to leave it be, yet my curiosity took charge.

I removed 2 small slivers of tape in the front and opened it up, half fearing, half curious and excited upon what was on the inside. It could be some old childhood memories maybe, like stuff my mom would keep. Or maybe it could be just be money I had saved from years and years before, and boy did I need some cold hard cash right about now.

What was inside was nothing that I had guessed.

As soon as my eyes laid upon the box's contents, my heart felt like it had been torn from my body.

He had been following me this whole time, no matter how hard I tried to eliminate him from my life. I thought I finally got rid of him, cleared and emptied my mind of any memories of him.

No.

Staring back at me was the face of Sonic the Hedgehog.

…

"Hello, this is Mobius' central employment agency, how can I help you?"

"Hi, my name is Miles Prower."

"Okay Mr. Prower, how can I help you today?"

Thank God the lady seemed to be in a bright mood, well considering her tone. But for some reason I grew extremely anxious, but continued to talk.

"Well, I'm in need of some sort of job, anything that pays pretty well is good. I kinda quit my last job because my boss and I had a grudge sort of thing against one another, and It was just annoying me too much. I have a lot of bills to pay and need some sort of income. And yes I'm unemployed if you're wondering."

"Hmm, well then Miles. I think I can scratch you in for an interview maybe tomorrow at two in the afternoon? How's that, or shall I move it to Wednesday."

"Let me check my planner."

What an abrupt and idiotic lie. I had no planner to begin with, and I had no plans to write in it making them utterly useless to me.

But to make it look like I did indeed have a planner somewhere, I took a book beside me and flipped through half the pages, acting like I was checking something.

"Tomorrow is fine, thank you."

"Great, so I'll see you tomorrow okay? Have a nice day now"

Funny, have a nice day now.

"Okay, thanks a lot. Bye." _click_

Well that could have been worse I guess. But to be honest, I don't think I've felt as pathetic as I am this very moment. Look at me; I'm probably one of the most intelligent people in Mobius and instead of using that sort of knowledge in something useful, I actually had to bother calling a stupid employment office. So much for achieving your dreams, teachers and parents lie, good there aren't any around for me anymore.

My appearance would shock them for one, as gone was the childish look I always had. Now instead of still having the look I had when I was twelve, I had adopted a rather mature look. My bangs grew out more, and I let them hang in front of my face. I even dyed them once, but I've learned that black doesn't suit me well.

I can't just blame them for my failures though, as most of it can be put upon me. I mean for one I could have applied for work in a place like Nasa for example, and I'd probably be offered one of their most prestigious occupations, granted that they'd read the incredible resume I had taken weeks to perfect.

I guess I can also blame the lack of desire I had in doing this stuff also. I haven't been on any adventures or missions for many months, and since I wasn't driven into building things to help the team, most of the designs I had could be simply considered useless in real life. Who would use a rocket launcher daily? Other than the army, nobody.

But those weren't the issue; it was the admiration that came with it that was annoying the shit out of me. I was never the spotlight type. But being the genius I was, hundreds of famous professors and other scientists were giving me praise for my collection of works. My rockets, planes, even a computer processor I made in my free time that I guaranteed was 5 times faster than an average one, made with basic materials that made it half the price. I was even the hero of some, but I just hated it. They didn't know me beyond my work.

I was an absolute disaster, and I knew it. In the last year I barely even saw anybody, my lack of human connections was killing me. Cream came over a couple of times to catch up on things, and I admit she was easy to talk to, but I had already known her for awhile so it didn't count to me.

I spent most of my time alone, the majority of this devoted to just thinking. Of what? To answer that, I'm not really sure what exactly it's hard to put together handful after handful of matchless thoughts.

Eventually, one of Creams' visits lead to her making an appointment to see a psychiatrist. I still consider that to be one of the most awkward days in my life, if not the most.

She was told to wait outside in a brightly lit hallway and sit on their unusual white chairs, which couldn't have been any brighter than they were. Meanwhile I was told to come in by this chubby man in his 50s, and according to the door of his office he indeed was the doctor. His office had dark brown walls, and a desk that was empty with the exception of a calendar and a notepad.

And for like an hour and a half I spent talking to this guy, his beady little blue eyes practically staring at me without blinking the entire time, it was making me afraid to even move. The annoying aspect of all of this was that nothing came out of it, and he was arrested for fraud around a month later.

Speaking of matchless thoughts, this somehow has reminded me that I have to go to the store today, I'm running low on bread and a couple of other things. I hated going shopping, I'd always bump into somebody who knew me and then I'd get the same idiotic question "Oh Tails! I haven't seen you in a long time, how have you been?" And then I would make yet another pathetic lie and soon we would be having a conversation of lies, isn't that fun?

My supermarket idea was trashed I found out by a quick glance at the clock over my TV, as it read bright and clear 5:15 pm. I didn't feel like going out in the cold and all, as the weather channel called for snowy and windy conditions tonight. Funny thing was that I was fully adapted at handing a rocket ship or a plane, but put me in a little Toyota Camry and all of a sudden I get nervous and intimidated. Maybe it's because the sky lacks the aspect of traffic.

Currently I was watching a documentary on global warming. I found parts of this actually extremely hilarious because the host of the show obviously had not a clue what she was talking about, and the way she tried to sound smart was even worse.

All of a sudden though my mind snapped to the date on the lower right hand side of the tv, as I forgot what today was. It was January 12th 2011, a date I was wishing I could skip, or just have forgotten about. 

But I could not, as I knew full and well why today was significant. It was the 2nd anniversary of the incident, and I completely had sideswiped the entire day nearly before realizing it.

Today was the anniversary of the death of Sonic the Hedgehog.

…

Please give me some thoughts about ch 1. I haven't done this in awhile, and I'd like to hear some comments.

Criticism is welcome.


	2. Past

A/N: I'm going to make sure that I don't leave everybody hanging and take 3 months to update again XD

So hopefully you didn't get disinterested, and here's chapter 2.

2

_I tried so hard and got so far…_

Two years… two entire 365 day years, and it still haunts just like it did the day after. This time however, it came without the continuous days of crying myself insane over a 5 day period. Now, I just stared at the box, no tears, and no fluctuating emotions visible in my face.

Besides, what more could I get upset about now? He had taken my heart and soul away when he died, leaving me with an empty hollow shell and a faint memory. The only reason I still strive to live is for his sake, but even with this concept tucked in the back of my mind, my will to live decreases ever so slightly each day. It's as if the world is toying with me, experimenting to see how much one can take and still get back on their feet.

Despite the numbing grief I was feeling as I sat on my cold hardwood floor, I continued to glance through the many other photos that filled the box. There were so many, it caught me completely off guard because I had forgotten how obsessed I really was. Now I look back at that and am completely embarrassed about it, I finally realized why Sonic got so annoyed with me.

There was a massive amount of pictures that had me clinging onto him in some sort of way, many of these depicting me as a self made stalker, it was even creeping me out. One had me sitting with a sleeping Sonic in a tree, pretending to make it look like he was my boyfriend. I must have been only eleven at the time, so I guess I could have called it part of my "innocent" crush, even if it seemed rather creepy.

But if he came home today, I couldn't even describe what I'd do when I saw him. Maybe tackle him to the ground and kiss him, or just be too shocked out of my mind to even move a single muscle.

There was one thing that set me from everybody else though, even Tails' who was Sonic's best buddy. And that was because I truly believed that he was still alive, that somewhere he still was out there, and that he was somewhere looking for all of us.

What confused me was that it's been two whole years since anybody had seen or even had word of his location. And something happened on that day which nobody had ever been able to figure out.

He had been looking for chaos emeralds, I remember because I begged for him to take me with him, or even Tails at the very least. But being the stubborn being he was, Sonic continually refused to bring anybody, giving excuses such as it being too dangerous for any of us or that he was experienced with the area. I just went along with it, I figured despite his enlarged vision of himself he'd be perfectly competent with taking care of himself.

He had been talking about how some scientists had discovered some chaos energy along Ash Forest about a couple hundred miles from where we were. Tails' had mentioned it, saying that scientists he knew were fascinated with the likelihood of there being an eighth emerald. I was both amazed and confused, I always assumed there was only seven in existence. Which is why I questioned the truth behind this, it just couldn't have been possible.

But Tails' word was plenty for Sonic, as the blue blur decided it was worth it to go and search for it, despite repeated pleas by Tails and I. But before we could warn him once more, he left. Tails had told me he had forgotten to caution Sonic as almost half of the forest was unstable ground because of increasing erosion. That and the fact that the forest was on the coast of an ocean, and the cliffs were hundreds of feet high.

So essentially being me, I went into panic mode, and within a second I was standing in front of Tails' house phone dialing Sonic's number. And to my annoyance, it began to ring loud and clear… from the other side of Tails' living room.

At this point I was seething, and was ready to kill Sonic when he came back… if he had come back.

But surprisingly instead of me looking at that day as being the worst of my life, it actually wasn't. Since Sonic wasn't around, and I had been furious at him already, Tails made a suggestion that he and I spend a day together. I was hesitant at first because in my mind I was dreading that he would take me into his workshop and bore me to death. But it turned out much differently than that…

…

"I can't believe him sometimes! His phone was right here! The least he could do was remember to bring that so I don't go ballistic but nooo…."

Tails sat on the couch blankly as the 14 year old hedgehog continued to rant endlessly about the fact that Sonic had just left her. He could easily just leave the room and lock himself in his bedroom, but even a move that made it look like he was leaving would just cause Amy to get more aggravated than she already was. The more simple explanation,

Tails continued to tune out Amy as he began to notice the bits of wear on his carpet where she was pacing back and forth. He was waiting for her to calm down, but at this rate, he figured it wasn't going to happen anytime soon as she seemed more stressed than ever.

"Amy?"

She continued to pace and mumble to herself, like a mother who had just lost its child.

"Amy?"

Again no response and Tails shook his head in annoyance, his bangs swishing back and forth along the front of his head. He stared at his plain white wall for a second, and then got up off the couch.

He walked cautiously to Amy, and once she was facing his direction he placed both of his hands on her shoulders which efficiently halted her in her tracks

"Listen, please calm down. I know you're worried, as I am also. But panicking for hours on end isn't helping anybody. Okay?"

The pink hedgehog was looking away from Tails' direction; her bright emerald eyes fixated upon the laces of her shoes as she fought back the urge to cry.

"Amy?"

She nodded softly, and Tails sighed in his mind when she looked on the verge of crying.

"I'm a pretty big idiot huh?" Instead she smiled, causing Tails to cock an eyebrow as he could've sworn she was about to cry, yet the emotions switched.

"Nah, it's just natural for you to feel like that." He responded, meanwhile his mind was shouting yes as loud as possible. Amy smiled warmly at him.

But he couldn't help that he was feeling something different being alone with Amy. He wasn't sure how to describe it, or how to put a finger on it. Nervous could maybe, or anxious. Or was this love?

"Uh Tails… you can let go of my shoulders now," Amy reminded him, showing slight signs of some blushing going on.

Tails scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Heh, sorry bout that. Spaced out I guess." He didn't know it, but he too was blushing like a cherry tomato.

Amy giggled at Tails' sudden nervousness; it actually was like looking in the mirror at herself, for she'd always be like this around Sonic.

"Tails are you okay? Your face is really becoming red now!"

"Yea… I'm. Fine." The twin tailed fox replied with an ever so increasing sense of anxiety. "Hang on a second Amy."

Amy watched Tails run upstairs with cryptic-like stare, not sure what was the matter with the fox. Now to add along with her anxiety towards Sonic, she was also feeling the same about Tails, as he was sure acting rather strange.

_Could I be causing this?_

She sat back down on Tails' pearl colored sofa and patiently waited while she crossed her legs. A sigh escaped her lips as she was getting rather bored, and to cope with this she grabbed the remote on his homemade table made from teak.

She remembered when they had gone searching for chaos emeralds awhile back, and Tails had randomly found a teak tree in the forest. But instead of leaving it alone, he magically pulled this laser kinda saw out of the Tornado and happily began to slice the once tall majestic tree into a pile of logs. Sonic and I were laughing like crazy when he finished because sawdust was covering most of his body.

Amy smiled to herself, knowing that even though his beloved Sonic is careless as anybody she knew, he'd still never do anything that would hurt his friends. This especially included death, he made sure that if it ever came down to it that he wouldn't go down without a fight.

She glanced up towards to stairs to notice Tails making his way back down. He looked a tad less nervous than before, but nonetheless she obviously could tell just by looking at his body language.

"Sorry about that, I just had to use a washcloth to cool down. For some reason it was getting really warm in here." He remarked, attempting to act as casual as possible, only he was failing at it… badly. Amy couldn't help but maintain a smile at his silly twin tailed friend; she thought it was ridiculous how he was trying to act.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Better than ever!" flew from his mouth barely a second after Amy had asked. Her smile disappeared, replacing it was again that confused look from beforehand.

Tails meanwhile was trying to sit on the right armrest of the couch, he seemed to be balanced on it at the moment, but he was in a tremendously uncomfortable position. So he tried to scoot over a tiny bit, only to wind up sprawled out on the floor.

Amy rolled her eyes and was sent into a whirlwind of giggles, met by Tails blushing yet again like mad.

"Miles Prower, have you ever gone on a date before?" Amy cooed, teasing the fox somewhat with her tone.

"Um…."

"I'm taking that as a no?" Tails embarrassedly nodded slowly, already knowing that many others his age probably had by now.

"Well would you like today to be your first?"

Her entire day was just turned around after she had asked that question. She watched the fox's eyes beam with delight, but at the same time he wasn't sure how to respond.

"REALLY? …I mean, sure." He started scratching the back of his neck pretending he wasn't thrilled out of his mind.

"You're incredibly cute when you're nervous."

Tails responded by just flashing a nervous twitchy smile, and a faint "I know" barely Amy was able to hear.

Amy let out a lengthy sigh, "Alright you don't have to pretend to act so casual."

In an instant the fox barreled over towards the pink hedgehog and bestowed a gigantic hug upon her. Amy couldn't help but smile to herself, but there was something that she really did feel to her friend.

All this time she'd only look at him as Sonic's little brother, never much more. But despite the fact that he was a full year younger than her, he was actually much more enjoyable to be around and even though she hated to admit it, was in ways more desirable than Sonic. For starters, he was an absolute genius, unlike Sonic who was a bit below average at best. But it was also that Tails seemed to show his compassion toward her, Sonic would continually push her to the side, using excuses such as "not having time."

_Maybe I can give him a chance… he could be the kind of guy I'm looking for._

"So how about I run home to get changed…" Amy looked at her rather messy and disordered appearance, "… into something more suitable. I shouldn't be more than 15 or 20 minutes."

Tails meanwhile continued to beam in delight, though in his mind he knew that Amy took much longer to get ready than she implied. "Sure thing, I need to take a shower anyway, so we can meet up here later I suppose?"

By now Amy was about halfway out the door, but turned around for a second before leaving.

"Sounds good to me. So I'll see you later," She winked and was giggling to herself as she went out the front door, leaving the vulpine standing in the middle of his living room, his heart beating a million times a minute.

…

A bit short for my liking, but I think this is a good stopping point

Thanks for reading and leave a review!


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